Method of reducing railway-rails



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

" Patented Apr. 15, 1890.

fly, 2.

W. H. HOWELLS. METHOD OF REDUCING RAILWAY RAILS.

Jim/ [W1 [W1 [WW] LMLU M322 UNITED STATES PATENT OF IC IVI LLIAM I-IOPKIN HOWVELLS, OF BRIDGEPORT, OHIO.

METHOD OF REDUCING RAILWAY-RAILS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 425,881, dated April 15, 1890. Application filed February 9, 1889. Renewed'March 17, 1890. Serial No. 344,257. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, \VILLIAM HOPKIN HOW- ELLs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Belmont and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Method of Reducing Railway-Rails from Large to Smaller Sizes of Cross-Section; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to the reduction of inverted T-rails from larger to smaller sizes, and has for its object'the conducting of such operation economically at a single heat, and is alike applicable to new rails and to rails that have been impaired by wear, and is specially profitable as applied to steel rails, which are too difficult to weld and work over into large-sized rails.

To obtain these desiderata this invention consists in heating the rail and guiding it through devices which prevent torsion into a series of passes between rolls which alternately upset the web of the rails while reducing and extending the head and flanges, and compress and straighten the web laterally after each upsetting operation, and finally, when a due increase of metal in the web is secured proportioned to the other parts of the rail, finishin g the rails by passing them through appropriately-shaped grooves in the usual finishing-rolls.

In the manufacture and use of steel rails it has been found that steel rails cannot be economically welded, so as to be worked over again, as is the case with wrought-iron, and the attempt to reduce such rails by reheating them and passing them between rolls having grooves successively smaller, but of similar profile to the section of the rail, causes lateral deflection of the web of the rail and produces seams or galls in the metal, which weaken the rails and impair their usefulness. This improved method of treatment obviates such difficulty by heating the rail and laterally supporting and guiding it as it passes between rolls which press the head and base toward each other and thicken or upset the web, and then rolling it in grooves in which the web is straightened and the head and flanges are drawn out or extended in length and reduced in breadth and thickness, and continuing this alternate process of laterally supporting and guiding the rail between rolls, upsetting the web, and straightening the web, attended with the drawing of the head and flanges, until the bar thus formed from the larger rail has assumed such proportions in thickness of the web in relation to the flanges and head as to undergo the finishing operation of rolling the head web and flange or base with a simultaneous extension or drawing out in all parts, and thus at asingle heat producing from a large rail a small rail having the same quality of material and finish as though it had been rolled directly from a billet or bar, as usual in making small rails.

The accompanying drawings represent an apparatus adapted to conduct this process, which apparatus,while not the subject of the claims of this application, is the subject of another bearing even date herewith, serially numbered 299,344.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 shows a plan of the apparatus; Fig. 2, a front view thereof; Fig.3, a rear View; Fig. 4:, a transverse vertical section showing the guides and their relative positions to the rolls. Fig. 5 is a vertical section through a guide in the plane indicated by the dotted line :0 min Fig. 4.

The same reference-marks indicate like parts in the several figures.

1 represents the top roll; 2, the middle roll; 3, the lower roll; 4 and 5, the housings; 6, the boxes; 7 and 8, guide-rests, and 9, journals, with projecting ends, through which motion is imparted to the rolls, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 4:. The rolls are grooved so as to form several passes, and marked, respectively, in the order in which they are used, to Z), c, d, e, f, g, and h. Opposite the passes and between the middle roll 2 and lower roll 3 is placed a pair of guides 10, consisting of two cheek-pieces 11 and 12, fitting upon the guiderest 7, so as to embrace the front and rear edges of it and to afford lateral support to a T-rail placed in inverted position between them. The inner surface of the guide-cheek 11 and 12 is made so as to conform in a measure to the shape of the inverted T-rail placed between them, flaring at the entrance and converging between the rolls. A cap-plate 13 a is secured to the cheeks 11 and 12, which prevents the rail from lifting above the cheeks, and also serves to confine the cheeks 11 and 12 laterally. In front of the second passb is another pair of guide-cheeks 15 and 16, which serve to guide the rail, when placed upon its side,in its entrance to the rolls and rests upon the upper guide-rest '8. This also is provided with a cap 14 and conforms approximately internally to the shape of the T-rail as placed upon its side. The form of the rails and the pass I) is such as to straighten any bulging or lateral deflections of the web which may have taken place during its compression when rolled through the first pass. The pass 0 has placed before it on the lower guide-rest 7 another pair of guide-cheeks 11 and 12, with acap 13, similar in construction to those (he scribed as in front of pass a, but dilfering in proportions to adapt it to the diminished height of the rail and increased thickness of the Web consequent upon the rolling eifected in the passes a and'b.

On the upper guide-rests, in front of the pass d, is anotherpair of guides 15 and 16, similar to those described in front of the pass I), but of proportions adapted to fit and guide the rail as diminished in height and thickened in the web by the previous rolling in the passes a, b, and c. This system of alternate straightening and vertical compression and reduction in the height and thickening of Web, attended with reduction of the head and flanges or base of the rail, continues in the same manner through passes until the rail under treatment has assumed the form of the bar partially formed into a rail, such as is usually formed in the rolling of the smaller rails from bars rolled expressly therefor directly from billets, after which the bar passes through other finishing-passes or a series of such finishing-passes, which reduce and extend the Web, flanges, and head simultaneously, as in the usual finishing operations of rolling rails. The cap-plates upon the checks of the guides 10 need not be separately formed, although that is the most convenient, and they are not 118068521111): extended across, so as to unite each pair of checks, but may be in the shape of flanges formed with the cheeks, and the cheeks held laterally in position by keys, bolts, or other equivalent mechanical expedients. The man ner of holding them by bolts is illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. I

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new is- 1. The method of reducing railroad-rails, which consists in reducing or compressing the vertical height of the rail in cross-section and thus upset or thicken the web of the rail; second, in straightening the Web laterally after such upsetting to prevent lateral deflection of the rail and obviate the existence of seams or galls therein, then repeating the vertical compression and lateral straightening of the rail alternately, and finally finishing the rail by passing the same through finishing-rolls having passes of the desired profile and size, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The method of reducing railroad-rails, which consists in heating the rail, com pressing or reducing the vertical height of the rail in cross-section and thereby upset or thicken the web thereof, straightening the web laterally after such upsetting operation by passing the rail through passes of smaller crosssection, then alternately repeating the vertical reduction and upsetting of the web and the lateral straightening operations, which thereby reduces the head and base and extends the rail longitudinally,and finally rolling the rail through rolls having passes of the desired profile and size to finish the "head, web, and flanges, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I hereunto afiix my signature this 19th day of January, A. D. 1889.

WILLIAM HOPKIN HOWELLS.

In presence of O. 0. LEE, WM. 0. BELT. 

